feedback

When it comes to implementation there are three things that companies ought to be thinking about in order to maintain a competitive advantage: process, feedback, and the importance of having multiple stakeholders from the beginning. Learn more in this Open Innovation Guide from IdeaScale.

In his talk at TEDx Koeln, Heiko Fischer builds a strong case for turning Human Resources on its head by enabling employees to become resourceful humans instead. He argues that businesses should be designed around a network of entrepreneurial teams contributing autonomously to the best interest of its customers. Fischer’s company, Resourceful Humans was awarded the Management Innovation Award for enabling democratic entrepreneurship at HAUFE. RH combines its maverick management framework with cutting edge networking technology like aiRH, to optimise work environments for people and products.

Creativity: a highly sought-after skill which can be illusive in times of need. The big question is what can we do about it? Whether you’re a professional artist, dancer, comedian, scientist, inventor or entrepreneur, you will experience the highs and lows, inspiration, frustration, self-criticism, doubt, and problem solving within your personal creative process. In the end, we’re all bringing something new into the world and hoping it will find its place and be well-received by others.

It’s awesome when everyone agrees, isn’t it? Yes—and no. Most of us have, at some point, fallen into the trap of groupthink to avoid conflict and promote harmony in a group, whether at school, work, or on a committee. Groupthink has its perks: everyone feels comfortable, and there’s no risk of tension among members. It’s safe. Easy. Unfortunately, it can also kills creativity and innovation.

Many of our customers have asked “what are the most important organizational values to nurture innovation?” Some of them may seem obvious or (at least) familiar: transparency, the embrace of digital solutions, the ability to celebrate failure, but we’re coming to discover that the most important value that you can embrace as part of your innovation programs is diversity.

The term “innovative workplace culture” is increasingly clichéd, with little thought about what it means in practice. And yet a successful workplace culture is a business imperative for companies expected to lead the way in design and innovation in today’s experience economy.

Emerald Therapeutics Co-Founder DJ Kleinbaum describes an exercise that allows his company to constantly re-examine its operations and culture, where all new employees are asked to keep a journal and write down their initial impressions of anything unusual. They are then asked to turn to coworkers with more tenure for an explanation, and possibly suggest solutions.

Roughly only half of all companies conduct annual performance reviews. Of the fifty percent of companies that do tend to provide consistent and reliable feedback to their employees. However, it can be awkward at times to tell someone on your staff that they aren’t doing a good job or attempt to offer constructive criticism without sounding condescending. What are some ways to make a performance appraisal more effective and less awkward for yourself and the employee?

Things have definitely gotten out of hand. Executives in suits are rummaging around in the LEGO box, a tall man is putting on a wig and speaking in a high-pitched voice, and a group has hijacked all the furniture to build what looks suspiciously like a fortress. Not a scene from an asylum, but the Prototyping phase of THNK’s Innovation Flow. It’s time to turn new ideas and visions into something tangible, a product that can be used and tested, broken up and rebuilt a dozen times. For innovation leadership, this is a crucial step in the creative process.

He had come up to me during drinks after a THNK evening session, on one of those nights where there seem to be no barriers to the topic of conservation. He was younger than the other participants, certainly a few years under the average age of 38. His question, “Do you think a person can get too much feedback?” stopped me in my tracks. It was also quite touching, especially given the earnestness with which it had been asked.

To take a coarse idea and refine it and evolve it into a successful innovation is extremely challenging. It is not enough to believe in yourself and feel strongly about the potential of the end result. You have to have support. Last week Susanna got a smack in her head that made her realize some essentials about innovation.

Booz&Co wrote in their article “The Social Life of Brands” on Strategy+Business that the value of a brand is linked with the relationships it has with its customers, creating and retaining them. For marketing, its fundamental task is managing these relationships. In a recent research by Gallup the results were striking, a 240 percent boost in performance was achieved when both employees and customers were enaged. This is exactly, in a highly technological driven business environment, digital innovation is the catalyst that improves engagement and provide means to manage relationships better, faster and in a cheaper way though digital.